Dortmund v Real Madrid: tactical preview

Dortmund have already defeated Real Madrid in this season’s Champions League – the problem is that Jose Mourinho so often learns lessons from these setbacks, and doesn’t make the same mistake twice.

Most obviously, there was Inter’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in 2010, when Mourinho’s side were thoroughly outplayed but had the last laugh in that season’s semi-final. The previous performance should give Dortmund great confidence, but the history might play into Real’s hands ahead of this clash.

Dortmund right v Real left

So what was Dortmund’s strategy when triumphing 2-1 over Real in the group stage? The key was their attacking down the right flank – Marcelo, Fabio Coentrao and Alvaro Arbeloa was all unavailable, so makeshift Michael Essien was attacked constantly with powerful breaks down the right flank. Marco Reus was deployed on that side, with Mario Gotze drifting right and Lukasz Piczczek providing further overloads from right-back.

Tonight, Marcelo, Arbeloa and Essien are all unavailable, so there’s no question that Coentrao will start. Granted, he’s Real Madrid’s first-choice left-back, so it’s hardly a weakness, but there’s still a good chance Dortmund will target him.

In Real’s previous Champions League game, the nervous defeat in Galatasaray, all their problems came down Coentrao’s side. Cristiano Ronaldo typically stayed high up the pitch and left Coentrao exposed – Emmanuel Eboue stormed forward to cause him problems, and the second half introduction of right-winger/right-back Sabri Sarioglu caused Real so many problems that Mourinho was forced to take Ronaldo away from that position for the final ten minutes.

Expect Dortmund to replicate their approach from the first leg, and create overloads down the right. Real’s area of advantage, of course, is that if Piszczek gets forward, Ronaldo will have space to break into. He compensated for his lack of defensive work at Galatasaray by scoring two goals – he needs to have an attacking impact here or else he could be Real’s biggest weakness.

On the other flank, Angel Di Maria and Sergio Ramos against Kevin Grosskreutz and Marcel Schmelzer feels like it will be much cagier.

Gotze v Ozil

Maybe the most interesting battle, however, will be between the number tens. Last year Mesut Ozil was outclassed by Toni Kroos at the semi-final stage, because Kroos was more comfortable dropping into deeper positions to allow Bayern to dominate.

They won’t literally be duelling on the pitch, of course – both will be fielded as central attacking playmakers, closely supporting their side’s main striker – but both will be charged with providing creativity from between the lines and leading quick counter-attacks.

Perhaps the style of this contest will suit Ozil, but if the match becomes a patient battle of possession, Gotze has the opportunity to dominate. Although a playmaker who thrives on space between the lines, and loves dribbling with the ball at speed, he’s also intelligent with his positioning, happy to drop deep into midfield to find space. In the previous round, with Manuel Pellegrini ordering Malaga to sit deep in two banks of four, Gotze often retreated to extremely deep positions, behind Dortmund’s holding midfielders, to collect the ball and start attacks. You won’t find Ozil doing that.

Gotze’s role this week will be fascinating. He unwittingly finds himself at the centre of a very modern tactical debate — next season at Bayern Munich he’s likely to become a false nine, but in this Champions League semifinal tie, will he play as an Ozil, or play as a Kroos?

Pressing, and staying compact

Dortmund are likely to stand off Real’s centre-backs, but press when the ball is played into the full-backs, central midfielders or the attacking quartet. As Bayern demonstrated last night, it’s more important to press as a unit than it is to press high – Dortmund are very good at staying compact.

Real’s approach is less predictable. They’re capable of pressing in midfield, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if they sat much deeper in their own half and then counter-attacked. Real don’t always remain compact – seemingly because of Mourinho’s instructions at times – but Dortmund are so good at cutting through opposition lines quickly.

Alonso

The presence of Ilkay Gundogan, Sven Bender and Sami Khedira will result in an energetic midfield zone, but maybe the key player is the most unique player on either side – Xabi Alonso. Dortmund don’t have a midfielder with that vision and passing range, and if Real want to cool the tempo and make this a patient match, Alonso is vital.

It will be interesting to see how much space he gets, however – assuming Gotze and Robert Lewandowski stand off the Real centre-backs, one will be told to block easy passes into Alonso’s feet, and denying him the ball could be the pivotal part of Dortmund’s approach, to ensure the game is played at a high tempo.

46 Responses to “ Dortmund v Real Madrid: tactical preview ”

Great prediction, I just found this website and I absolutely love it.
Its not easy to find some quality football tactics on the internet so keep up the great work!

DVDA on April 24, 2013 at 10:18 pm

you mean football journalism that doesn’t focus on WAGs, random off-pitch incidents and childish antics? surely you can find that all over the internet.

Guybrush on April 24, 2013 at 5:39 pm

” In the previous round, with Manuel Pellegrini ordering Malaga to sit deep in two banks of four, Gotze often retreated to extremely deep positions, behind Dortmund’s holding midfielders, to collect the ball and start attacks. You won’t find Ozil doing that.”

I’m not so sure about that. I’ve seen Özil doing exactly this for Germany several times when he didn’t get any balls in the normal no. 10 spaces.

“The presence of Ilkay Gundogan, Sven Bender and Sami Khedira will result in an energetic midfield zone, but maybe the key player is the most unique player on either side – Xabi Alonso. Dortmund don’t have a midfielder with that vision and passing range, and if Real want to cool the tempo and make this a patient match, Alonso is vital.”

Well I don’t see Gündogan that far away from Alonso. In Dortmund’s and Germany’s last matches he was always brilliant especially with Alonso-style long diagonal balls.

hwk on April 24, 2013 at 5:59 pm

And not to forget, that Özil and Götze are different typs of players. Götze is more like a dribbler. Özil is using, searching space. A few years ago it was very interesting to see the connection between Özil and Müller (God, now everybody must think that Motörhead must be German) when it came to using, searching, finding, creating space at the national team.
Götze is a different type, and Kroos too (no ‘ö’). Kroos is something between a no. 10 and a no. 8 at times. Müller looks like an old fashioned player, but he is very smart (like a strikter in the box) and also able to play wide vor behind a forward.

hwk on April 24, 2013 at 6:04 pm

It is possible that Dortmund will play a 4-3-3 with Götze wide and Kehl in the centre. Also, I don’t know about bookings and suspensions, but Kuba is always more likely to play than Großkreutz.

This is a perfect game for Ronaldo to play centre forward. Even if not initally but at some stage in the game. Real unlike Barca last night will sit back and copy Dortmund rather than allow Dortmund to win the bal in dangerous positions. ultimately Real have more class and if they put in an extra mid to help with posession and play Ronaldo more advanced I believe his late runs in the box can cause hummels and subotic problems. I predict a cagey game with either a 0-0, 1-1 or 0-1 madrid. Ronaldo is a problem on the left in this particular game IMO because Gundagon is also good at covering that space which means one of Reals midfielders wiill need to shuttle forward effectively.
Also I believe Gotze will play more like Ozil than Kroos but I agree that he definitely needs to hard mark Alonso ( at least zonal behind him), rather than just loiter goal side waiting for the counter because even though Alonso’s dribbling evasive skills aren’t as good as Pirlo ( a tyicsl regista), he is very good in the defensive phase and will work hard and recover his positioning better in the defensive phase. That was what made him and Liverpool so good in the 4-2-3-1 they used to make final in 07.

dropbear on April 24, 2013 at 11:56 pm

….“I predict a cagey game with either a 0-0, 1-1 or 0-1 madrid.” …. close …

Mb on April 24, 2013 at 6:50 pm

Real alwayd have problems against teams that sit deep and surrender the ball. If Real don’t have space to counterattack their threat is minimal. Dortmund will give them no space whatsoever so I think Real might find it hard to create something.

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Tom on April 24, 2013 at 7:07 pm

Quick point strategy is a teams long term game e.g. Dortmund, press, quick ball circulation, compact etc tactics are little shifts a team makes from game to game, my point being that Dortmunds strategy last time they met Madrid was there usual game whereas Pisczek overlapping was a tactic. I doubt Dortmund will specifically target Ronaldo, very rarely do coaches at this level use the same trick twice. However using an offensive tilt, with the central playmaker dropping deep is an ideal way to exploit the hole. Hummels is likely to be put under pressure to stop his long diagonals so Subotic should have time to play balls outwide.

Doni on April 24, 2013 at 7:12 pm

“Last year Mesut Ozil was outclassed by Toni Kroos at the semi-final stage, because Kroos was more comfortable dropping into deeper positions to allow Bayern to dominate.”

I respectfully disagree with this. How can Ozil got outclassed as he provided both goal and assist in both legs? He’s being effective in his task more so than most most if not all forward in both team. Don’t forget that game is decided by penalty.
You could argue that Kroos and Ozil doing different thing. Who knows what the coach instructing them to. Just because Ozil didn’t do what Kroos did, and vise verca, doesn’t mean one got outclassed by each other.

Josef_Pronek on April 24, 2013 at 11:51 pm

it’s typical Cox fanboy comment – he’s got a man crush on Kroos! No question Kroos steady distribution and ball handling took over, bit by bit, the initiative in both games. Outclassed Özil was not. He was his usual brilliant in patches… but if you have a counter attacking team behind you, you won’t get much of the ball. Not to mention they are completely different types of players…

ZM is definitely a big fan of Ozil. Specifically his intelligent movement in an aggresive attacking sense rather than a clever midfield sense like Kroos. ZM also notes his ability to pick out defense splitting passes and make great decisions on the counter attack. Kroos is not known to excel in any of these areas. Nonetheless, he has a different skill set that sometimes can offer more influence in the midfield / tactical battle. ZM notes Low’s mistake in fielding Kroos against Italy, as aiming to get this kind of flexibility was a reactive step designed to ensure that Germany’s midfield did not get overrun by Italy’s diamond. In that match, as ZM notes, Germany probably would have been better off sticking with their usual formation, characterized by Ozil’s clever movement from the number ten position. Kroos fanboy my ass

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Well we’ll well . Looks like modric is in no 10 possie with Ozil wide. If so, good move mournho! Real Madrid to win 1-0 with a long range goal.

Scott on April 24, 2013 at 9:31 pm

Nailed it. Dortmund attacked Madrid’s left side again and Ronaldo was a non-factor.

TS7 on April 24, 2013 at 9:44 pm

Not quite sure about that. Think Dortmund controlled the game from the center of the pitch (look at the # of touches for Gundogan, Gotze, Hummels).

Scott on April 24, 2013 at 9:59 pm

Of course you can’t play a game without going through the middle, but attack after attack used their right side.

Jeremy on April 24, 2013 at 11:06 pm

Eh….wasn’t simple as that. With Ozil tucked in and Ramos playing like he forgot he used to be a RB, lots of movement down the left as well. More goals went in from the right centerback position because, well, Pepe was absolutely terrible. Regardless, very level display from Dortmund.

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Isaac on April 25, 2013 at 7:17 am

I don’t frequently write about soccer, but watch a lot and read a lot about it ( I wrote a comment above, if you want to see some of my thoughts).
Do you have a link to your blog? I’m a junior at Columbia originally from a soccer hotbed in California, I’d be interested to talk to you about whatever

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